July 2007

July 31, 2007

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group, wants Sen. Ted Stevens, 83, to recuse himself until an FBI and IRS investigation is concluded. The two agencies are investigating Stevens' ties to an Alaska energy company and a lobbyist. The investigation has involved other Alaska lawmakers, including Stevens' son, a state representative.

Stevens, R-Alaska, the longest-serving Republican senator, has not been charged with any wrongdoing. He holds a key position on the Commerce Committee, among others. So far, he has said only that he wants to avoid any perception that he has tried to influence the investigation, and urged Alaskans "not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media."

"Senator Stevens is entitled to due process and remains innocent until proven otherwise," wrote Ryan Alexander, the president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "But the standard for holding a powerful committee position should not hinge on the absence of a criminal conviction."

In the wake of the search of the senator's home, Alexander wrote, "it is time for Senator Stevens to do the right thing and step down from his committee assignments."

The House easily passed an ethics and lobbying reform bill today, sending it to the Senate for what backers hope will be a floor vote before the current Congressional session ends this week.

The House vote, 411-8, is an overwhelming victory for the long-stalled bill, which would require more detailed disclosure of campaign contributions by lobbyists end secret holds in the Senate, and place new restrictions on earmarks.

Conservatives have said Congressional Democrats weakened some of the earmark provisions, but it's unclear whether they'll have the votes to stop the bill in the Senate, or whether they'll try to change the bill.

It must be nice to be a politician, or a judge, in Idaho. The lines are getting blurry these days. Idaho is the only state that doesn't require personal financial disclosures from any government officials, according to a three-month study by the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity. Utah and Montana also don't require that judges of their highest courts report personal financial interests, so any lucrative side businesses selling Mormon-approved underwear or beef jerky are fair game.

The center has compiled financial disclosure information about state high courts, governors and legislators across the country. Since D.C. isn't a state (yet), we got screwed again and were left out of the rankings.

A more alarming study by the National Institute on Money in State Politics and New York University's Brennan Center for Justice showed increasing amounts of campaign contributions flowing to judicial candidates from 1994 to 2006. Almost 40 states require some type of election to win a seat on the state's highest court.

Former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., has filed a libel suit against the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cox Newspapers, which owns the Atlanta paper.

The suit, filed last week in Fulton County State Court, accuses editorial page editor Cynthia Tucker of committing libel in a series of opinion columns. McKinney is seeking damages. Some experts tell our sister paper, the Daily Report, that McKinney will face an uphill battle proving her case.

Congress will take up a major ethics reform bill with broad implications for lobbyists this week, its last before the August recess. The bill is expected on the floor of the House today.

Congressional leaders haven't released details of the bill, but it is expected to include new disclosure rules governing campaign contributions raised by lobbyists, and could change the way senators request earmarks for pet projects.

Roberts’ Condition: The Chief Justice was on the mend yesterday after suffering a seizure and falling outside his summer home in Maine. The “benign idiopathic seizure” was like the one that he had in 1993. Tests revealed no cause for concern, but the chances of a person who has had two seizures suffering another is around 60 percent.

Alaskan Palace Raided: FBI and IRS agents swept through Sen. Ted Stevens' home yesterday. The agencies are investigating the longest-serving Republican senator’s ties to an Alaska energy company, and what, if anything, they have to do with lavish improvements to Stevens’ home.

Guidelines of Engagement: War-crimes hearings are revealing ambiguities in the Marine Corps rules of engagement. The “show, shout, shove, shoot” rules are plain, but “positive identification, hostile intent or hostile action” leave a lot to interpretation. All that subjectivity is hobbling them in combat, marines say.

Conspiracy of Badgers: Some Basra residents believe British soldiers are loosing cattle-eating Badgers on the lands as a parting blow before they decamp. Against the tide of logic, rumors of British soldiers planting snake eggs in waterways and unleashing rabies-infected, bomb-sniffing dogs have also surfaced.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was hospitalized earlier today after falling at his summer home in Port Clyde, Maine. Bloomberg reported Roberts slipped on a dock, while an MSNBC anchor offered some speculation about whether Roberts was "being a klutz" or if it was "something far more serious." The extent of Roberts' injuries wasn't immediately known, but he was conscious and alert in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. At 52, Roberts is the youngest of the justices and has no known health problems.

Apparently, retired judges are being pressured into service, and part-time recorders (think magistrate) are continually being asked to extend their stays on the bench. In and around London, courts are so cramped, officials are having trouble reserving courtrooms for the growing number of terrorist trials, which usually start late and run long.

Why? So the story goes, the government is purposely witholding appointments to save a cash.

“Such ad hoc measures save money because the Government does not have to pay holiday allowance or pension contributions for retired or part-time judges,” according to The Times.